Treasure
by Minyan
Summary: Richard has no superpower, but he would do what ever he could to protect the people he treasured. Pairing Richard ang Clark. Slash content will be included later. Rate T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1 Jason

This is a fanfic story base on the Movie "Superman returns". Slash content and crossover characters will be included in future chapters. I don't own all of these above except the story I wrote.

Since English's not my mother tongue, this is more like a writing practice for me. Any advice about grammar, dialog and language would be welcome. I checked it using OpenOffice before uploading but I'm really not sure whether it were enough. So, please help.

1

Actually, Richard knew of Jason's powers even earlier than Lois.

On Jason's fourth birthday, he gave him a remote-control helicopter as present. The kid had been in high spirits for the whole day.

Jason tended to like sophisticated toys, a fact of which Lois did not approve. Though she never showed it when Jason was around, Lois went for more durable things. She checked labels about materials and service-life every time they went shopping. Richard once thought it had something to do with Jason's own father. Then he realized that he was right, although it was not about so much about Lois' feeling than about Jason's true nature.

It was a summer afternoon, a few days after the birthday. Jason was playing with his new toy in their backyard. He manoeuvred it well, but then accidentally smashed it onto the top of a large fir where the helicopter tangled with leaves and branches and stayed there. The boy had been scared of what Richard's reactions might be, but still ran back to house to apologize and ask him for help. He would never scold Jason.

The tree top was too tall to reach by any hand tool, but he figured that fir trees should be easy to climb and strong enough to hold his weight.

"No need to worry, Jason!" He gave Jason a wink and then started to climb up.

It happened in a split second. Richard stepped on a dead branch, losing his balance and his grip. Falling quickly, he'd barely had time to think. Then, something, or someone, caught him. He felt his descent slow and come to a stop as whatever had him touched the ground. He was completely shocked, though not by the horror of falling to death. He was shocked by seeing his four-year-old son carrying his full weight in mid air and flying smoothly back to ground.

They were both speechless for a good two minutes. He saw Jason become more and more nervous, then burst into tears. The tears brought him back to reality. He hugged Jason tightly, kissing the child's cheek.

"No, no, It's not your fault. Jason, you just saved my life. Thank you. It's

okay now. shh…"

He patted and rubbed his son's back, trying to sooth him. Jason just buried himself deeper into Richard's chest, still sobbing. The tears wet his shirt, breaking his heart. He felt almost ashamed for frightening his son as he did.

"I'm sorry, Jason. I didn't mean to frighten you, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Thank

you for saving me, Jason…"

He slowly lifted up his son. The four-year-old boy was still light enough for him do it using only one hand. The helicopter had fallen off as Richard had shaken the tree and the aircrew had broken. But that didn't matter. He picked it up and walked back to the house, promising Jason he would fix it.

Jason had been napping for the following hours until dinner as the crying had drained the boy's strength. Luckily, Lois was away on business that day so he let Jason sleep in their room and made him hot chocolate with melted marshmallow topping for dinner. The boy had a sweet-tooth. Which they didn't usually indulge, but today was different

They had dinner in his room and watched cartoon movies together. The hot chocolate finally brought a very relieving sigh out from the boy's chest.

"Stitch's cool." Jason said, watching the blue alien doggie thing bouncing around.

"A bit like you then," He said with a grin. That didn't cheer the boy up, though. He hugged Jason closer, asked, "Is there something you're afraid of telling me?"

"I…" Jason frowned, still hesitating, "We had drawing lesson last week. We drew ourselves."

He nodded and encouraged him on.

"Sara drew a heart-shape on her chest. I said 'a heart's not like that.'" Jason paused again, his brow furrowing.

"Well, then? What's a heart like?" He asked quietly, giving another hug to assure the boy.

"It's like a red soft lemon or mango bumping inside your chest. I said I saw it. I really saw it." Jason took a deep breath, and sighed, whispered, "Everybody said I lied. They said nobody saw that."

He didn't want to ask about how the teacher dealt with that. "I know you are telling the truth." He said solemnly.

Jason snuggled closer. He'd found the boy's inhaler, just in case. Jason's breath had tightened after the flying.

"But you don't see them too, right?" Jason said, sounding desperate.

"Wait a minute." He hopped off the bed, grabbed a book from the shelf and flipped it open. He showed Jason an anatomical drawing of a heart. "Like this, right?"

Jason studied the picture and nodded. "Color's different." He added.

"Then I saw it, maybe not in your way." He said gently, "I know you didn't lie about this. You are telling the truth."

Jason sat in silence for a while. "Am I abnormal?" He asked suddenly, his face dropping slightly.

He didn't try to figure out when and where Jason learned the word "abnormal".

"You are unusual." He said firmly.

Jason leaned over and hugged him, finally cheered up a little. The movie continued. Jason finished the chips and started with fruit salad.

"Then, how about the flying thing?" He tried best not to sound too concerned or curious. Jason mumbled something like "dunno" while chewing.

"'S first time. Dunno how, I just didn't want you to hit the ground." The young boy said after finishing his first mouthful.

He nodded, tousling his son's hair. "It's really cool."

Jason grinned.

The movie ended half an hour later. Chips and tortillas and salads were also done.

"You won't tell others, right?" Jason asked, yawning.

"Only if you want to." He said.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Jason nodded solemnly. "Will you tell mom?"

He thought for a moment, smiled. "It's up to you. I trust you with this."

The boy gave another nod, yawned again.

"Go brush you teeth." Richard gave Jason a playful poke. Jason growled like an annoyed kitten.

"You never saw the sweet-tooth bugs right?" He laughed, "Then they still decay you teeth without being seen."

Jason giggled, then hopped off bed willingly for brush.

"Do you think I can practice flying, dad?"

"Well, only if you promise me to practice with cushions first."

He read him stories before sleep as usual and Jason fell asleep quickly. Richard stayed up though, thinking about the whole thing. He remembered last week, when Jason's teacher went to talk to him about how to deal with Jason's IQ or interest in science. That hadn't made much sense to him at that time. Well, now it made sense in another way. Some advice might be helpful, he thought, but how many people in this planet were raising a supernatural son? Did Lois had any idea about Jason's ability? Was it inherited from Jason's own father? Sure, Lois is a fantastic woman, but her ability never seemed to go beyond a human range, right?

So many thoughts clouded his mind. He went to brush his teeth and washed his face to cool down. He came back into his room, smiling tenderly at the lump on his bed. A sleeping Jason was the cutest thing in this world to him. He slide into bed and cuddled his son. He still had to protect him, no matter what Jason could do. There must be something that was beyond Jason's but within his ability. That is what he was responsible for, what a father be responsible for. For his son and his treasure.

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Special thanks to **bookworm97** for the beta help! You save my week, love you 3


	2. Chapter 2 Richard

2

When he was still a child, Richard realised that something went wrong in his family.

His parents were flawless. Dad had been a little bit busy with the family business then, but still spent enough time to fulfil his daddy-job. They went fishing together just a couple days ago, chasing trouts in remote streams. His Mum had been busy holding parties, bonding the social network for the family. But she managed to cook him dinner three times a week, and they still talk on phone three times a week after his engagement. They both kept him low pro when he was a kid, eliminating the pressure from wealth, offering him the freedom to choose.

But still, there had been something wrong. Something invisible, something unspeakable, something that slowly ate off his inside, left vacuum behind.

His parents divorced in his teen. No quarrel, no fight, even no tension. He heard the lawyer said it was the most peaceful millionaire divorce she'd ever seen. He just shrugged. He felt kind of strange, but still accepted it. The strange feeling even disappeared after they became just working partners. His father gradually retired from major business to the education foundation things, spending more time on sport fishing and nature reserves. His mother was doing an excellent job in business running. The both seemed more satisfied.

He was happy for that, for them, but the vacuum never disappeared.

The vacuum sucked. It slowly sucked away all his energy and happiness.

His high school years were fruitful. He attended the same school as the extremely wealthy Bruce Wayne. He worked hard and got prizes on sport and science and so. He dated girls. He made friends. But none of these was helpful. The joy and pride of success just died away so quickly, that drives him dash for another success right after the previous one accomplished.

And the joy and pride just died away faster and faster, until there was no more joy and pride, just stimuli.

Sometimes he wondered how Bruce Wayne survived the traumatic memory after that famous tragedy. They were a few years away. And the other boy remained a myth after he graduated. Low pro, extremely wealthy, a lone wolf, but still active enough in school activity. The prizes he got was considerable, enough to fill a large shelf. Richard's caught up with his before graduation.

Still, the vacuum never left him. Just a few month before high school graduation, drug and alcohol had already become a seductive choice.

It was Uncle Perry who pulled him away from this stage.

Before he decided Princeton, Perry came to him and asked, "Would you like to join Daily Planet?"

That sounded more like a no-need-to-answer-just-come rather than a request. And he could just look at Perry with open mouth.

"Oh, come on. You haven't decided a college, right? You have the material for a great reporter." Perry said affectionately, "You have that hunger deep inside to drive you. I won't mistake that."

He then shut his mouth, and started considering the offer.

The offer made him feel better, for that awful vacuum might be somewhat useful. He still decided to go to Princeton. He told Perry that he still wanted to get a degree first. Perry was a little bit disappointed and shrugged, "Fine then, I guess I'm still young enough to wait. But make sure you qualify at least an assistant editor after getting that goddamn degree."

Perry might be a jerk when barking out orders, but he got sense, and sensitivity.

However, even Perry couldn't prevent him from screwing up love relationships.

He dated girls in high school, did his best to be a gentleman. But at the end, every single girl he dated ended up asking him, "Are you really in love with me, or you just want someone around for company?"

And every single girl he dated walked away so hastily, never bother to wait for his answer.

He did have the desire for female. It was more like the chemical failed to active his receptor in love center properly. Or his love center in brain was not functioning properly.

"I don't want to hear any female creature in this planet say those words any more." He once complained to his friend Marco. They'd been friends since high school. Marco was a scholarship student then and study psychology in Princeton.

"You could try boys, I guess." Marco pondered.

He shot his friend a glare.

"I don't mean me, thanks." Marco shot a glare back, and smirked.

He signed, "My parents don't go to church every Sunday but they are still Christian."

Marco shrugged, "Then, are you homophobic?"

He paused, then groaned, "No, it just doesn't feel right."

"I'm not saying you should go directly to a gay bar and launch yourself at someone. You can go for a consultant first. You might just need some different chemical. I think you are bisexual at most. "

He considered it for a while, and sighed again, "I don't want to disappoint my parents."

"Maybe it's good for you all."

"What?" He looked at his friend, confused.

"The disappointment. Being more emotional. Might be good for you all." Marco said, sounding more hearty and serious this time.

He wanted to say something, some protests maybe, but words simply vanished on the tip of his tongue.

"Thanks, for, well, something." He finally said, then collapsed on the chair, feeling more confused than ever.

Marco gave his shoulder a squeeze, "You're welcome, man. Relax. It's not that bad."

He chuckled, "I won't consider drug and alcohol anymore. Don't worry."

Marco squeeze his shoulder hard this time, "I do know that you won't consider those demons," he almost ground his teeth, smirking, "but you will start a pilot training course next week, man. That really really worry me a lot! Please convince me you're not up for any death wish before you start that training, man."

His parent did show some disappointment to his self-searching, though they still let it be. Again, his relationships with boys failed miserably. The chemical never clicked. What those boys said at last was almost identical as the former girls said. He didn't care that much, since he could fly then. His pilot training was finished successfully with a license.

When engine howling, when golden sunlight pouring down, when plane soaring like a bird and clouds flying by, with the earth below looked like canvas full of colors, all the bad thing in his mind was blown away by the singing wind.

He loved flying.

He could understand why everyone want to become superman nowadays. Flying cleaned his heart and mind, gave him power to survived the college years sanely, indeed.

After graduation, the airliner brought him back to east coast. He bought a beautiful sea plane there, parked it on the seashore of Metropolis. He went to work for Perry and Daily Planet as an assistant editor. That was six years ago. Winter was coming.

He met Lois Lane there. He fell in love at the first sight.

[pre-beta]

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Any review would be welcome:D


	3. Chapter 3 Lois

Review pppppllllllleeeeaaaaassssss~~~:D

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3

Of course he knew Jason was not his blood.

The first day he worked in Daily Planet, he was sitting in Perry's office, talking about everything and nothing.

"Don't ever think I'll go easy to you." Perry said, a bit unhappy.

"Should I start from reporter first?" Richard smiled. He knew Perry was mocking.

"You better do. Lois needs a partner. Since Clark resigned we've never found one." Perry muttered. "Self-searching, for god's sake."

He couldn't help smiling. Then, suddenly, Lois stormed in, grabbed another chair, sat down and stared at Perry, still panting.

He saw Perry wincing. Well, that was impressive.

"Lois, forget about the batman story, OK?" Perry tried to sound annoyed. "That's just an urban legend, in Gotham, not even in Metropolis. You are not working in Gotham Daily, hell. Bruce Wayne is more global."

Lois calmed down and said, "No, Perry, we can talk about that later."

Perry was not wincing then, he was stunned.

"Perry," Lois said calmly, "I'm pregnant."

The room became dead silent suddenly. Perry was petrified.

"Well, congratulation, then, I think." Perry stuttered, looked like he was gonna have a heart attack.

Lois nodded, "Thank you, Perry. I'll keep working until maternity leave." Her voice sounded more lively then, "Besides, Would you just leave that playboy to others? The dark knight is more helpful to that city than a wastrel in white tuxedo."

"No." Perry finally regained his common tune, "You can ask him how he won back control of WE, or other inside stories. But no, no batman, and no OT for extra work from now on."

Lois looked totally discouraged. Perry sighed, gesturing Richard and said, "This is Richard White. New assistant editor. He will work as your partner first for some time. Richard, this is Lois Lane, your new partner. Give her whatever help she needs."

Lois blushed, and blushed heavily, apparently for not noticing his previous presence. His heart skipped a beat.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Lane." He shook her hands and grinned, "I read your reports before. Great job. And, congratulations."

Lois quickly regained herself, smiled and said thank-you. Richard's heart skipped another beat.

"If you need my help, just let me know." he said.

Lois nodded, and smiled, and smiled pregnantly. He heard Perry sighed. Perry must be shaking his head then. But he didn't see it. He just couldn't take his eyes away from Lois.

He started his first OT on that night. Perry worked late that day also. Seeing the light of Richard's desk was still on, the old man shook his head.

"She just can't give up the superhero obsession, does she?" Said Perry, picking up one of the press cutting scattering on the desk. A dark pointed ear figure was shown beside the article, except that it was a hand-draw rather than a photo. "How did you persuade her to leave this to you and leave on time?"

He chuckled, "I offered her some background info about Bruce Wayne. He was my schoolmate, you remember? Just a few years ahead. She seemed interested. It may be a distinctive interview, I think."

Perry shook his head again, picking up another piece of cutting, "So how about this bat-guy."

This time, Richard shook his head, "Little clue. This guy just showed up in recent months. Few people had actually seen him, let alone he's wearing cape and mask. I think it's the same guy, but hard to confirm."

"Not enough for a decent story. Any more?"

"He seems to have some gadgets. May be rich enough to buy, may has easy access to correlation technology, may be both."

Perry sighed, "Hope this guy show up long enough. At least it may keep her occupied from overwork."

"Because superman disappeared?" He asked casually. He had already saw the front-page clips in corridor. The most recent one was Where Has He Gone. At least half of the superman ones were signed Lois Lane.

Perry signed again, "Disappeared like a poof. Yesterday you saw him rescuing kitten on trees, next day he was nowhere to be found. It has been three months since then."

"So, even Lois has no idea where he is, does she?" He asked, starting to clean up the mess on his desk.

"You bet. Keep an eye on this bat-guy though. The girl does have a taste in heroes."

"I'm on call."

It'd never been easy to persuade Lois to rest. It was like she got an engine burning inside. You could feel the heat and energy whenever she passed by. And you would feel live and bright besides her so you worked willingly for her.

At least it was what Richard felt like then. Three days later he'd already found urban legends particularly interesting.

"So, any progress?" Lois asked, looked satisfied with Richard's enthusiasm for work. He could smelled a hint of lavender from that silky brown hair.

"Few evidence, hardly a decent witness, plenty of suspicious and rumors." He sighed, but smiled. "How about your interview today?"

Lois face dropped immediately. The traffic jam started an hour ago because of a serious car accident. And it still showed no sign of relieve. Actually, it was getting worse. Road-wrath triggered a few fights in different places. Traffics to airport and transportation had all been paralyzed. Most of their colleagues were watching TV news of the jam, since it was impossible for them to go where they wanted to go.

"This is gonna be historical. I can't believe that I'm worrying a playboy interview instead of this." Lois muttered, frowning and pacing back and forth in frustration.

"Hope Superman's still here." Someone whispered. He turned his head and saw Jimmy Olsen watching TV worriedly. "He could end this simply in ten minutes."

"Jimmy, go and get me some photo of this jam, NOW!" Perry roared out from his office. The redheaded young man hurried away with his camera. "Lois, how's the situation?"

"No way to airports. Roads to harbor were still OK but the ship's definitely not fast enough. I don't know how I could make to Gotham in time." Lois complained and at the same time tried her best not to be too nervous and frustrated.

He'd been watching her, suddenly a thought struck him.

"Did you just say the traffic to harbor's still fine?" He rose to his feet. Both Perry and Lois were looking at him, and nodded.

"My sea plane's there. I can arrange the touchdown on our way." He could see the smiles slowly went back to Lois's face. It's almost like turning a light on.

"And what are you two waiting for? Go get that plane!" Perry roared again with a blissful expression. "The road could be stuck in any minute. NOW GO!"

His old schoolmate was kind and thoughtful enough to offer his own harbor for touchdown after knowing the traffic problem in Metropolis.

"There's some drink and food in the case beside you. Belt up, suit yourself and enjoy the flight." He checked the instrument reading and started the engine. It roared happily. He smiled in relieve.

"Do you always get everything here ready?" Lois amused.

"I like flying, like to spend some time above whenever I have time. So I always get it ready for next." He grinned.

"I like flying, too." Lois smiled, turned her head, looking out from the window. Her voice sounded a little drifting. Her look in eyes told Richard she was not paying attention to the sight.

She was looking at some old familiar invisible thing.

He turned back and focused on the view in front of him. The plane slowly built up speed and took off.

His old schoolmate even sent a black limo to the harbor, with his butler driving it. The old man had a good sense of humor, kept them smiling for the whole drive. Lois headed straight for preparation of the exclusive interview when arrived.

"I'm afraid you have to wait here for a while, sir." The butler said, looked sincerely apologetic. "Any thing I could do for you?"

"Offer her nonalcoholic and noncaffein drink, please." He lowered his voice and said.

The old man was a bit surprised, but nodded. "I'll make sure everything's right. Thank you, sir."

He nodded back.

The interview didn't take too much time. Apparently Lois refused a dinner invitation. He felt somewhat grateful.

That was the first time he met Bruce Wayne face to face. The man looked at his junior, smiling in an absolute playboy way, "Well, it looks like the dragon knight's gonna escort his lady home."

Lois blushed and giggled cheerily. The interview should be a success then. The other man shook his hand, "Bruce Wayne. Nice to meet you. Headmaster talked about you a lot when I met him last time."

"Richard White. Nice to see you, too." He smiled, "The old man wouldn't let me graduate if I didn't catch up you prizes. And, thank you for the arrangement today."

They both laughed. Lois smiled and regarded them thoughtfully.

"So how's the interview?" He asked. The plane soared smoothly through the crisp night air. Lights of cars flowed like streams on the earth below.

"Nice guy. Smart as you said."Lois reviewed her record and said.

"So the playboy and wastrel is a nice and smart guy now." He couldn't help but chuckled.

"Hey, it's you who convinced me he's more than that." Lois laughed. The laughter trailed off and she started sounding more thoughtful, "He'd been doing a great job acting as a playboy. I can feel there's something more, but it's almost impossible to drag it out. Without your help, the interview could be worse."

"I'm sure it will be a good report." He said solemnly. He had to focus on the instrument panel since it was night. But somehow, he felt Lois raised her head and looked at his back, smiling.

"Thank you, Richard. For everything today." She said quietly.

There was a stream of warmth upwelling from his heart, passing through his every vein.

"So, may I ask the lady for some sandwiches together?" He said. He heard Lois chuckle.

"Sure."

[pre-beta]


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